


Five times the ethic's class' gang improved themselves and one time the universe did

by Theta Sigma (Kiriahtan)



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Season 3 Finale, The Good Zine, all character's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21662233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiriahtan/pseuds/Theta%20Sigma
Summary: an essay about why we could be good,inspired by Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil/Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Five times the ethic's class' gang improved themselves and one time the universe did

**Author's Note:**

> This was my contribution for The Good Zine project, which was a small project with some difficulties but it finally came out a few months ago and you can read it for free here https://thegoodzine.itch.io/the-good-zine-what-we-owe-to-each-other It has so many great works in so you should check it!   
> I enjoyed so much writing this fic and I hope you'll enjoy reading it.   
> Nice day!

  1. **Because we’re afraid of the punishment**



"Uuuggghhh" Eleanor beated her hear against the philosophy's book with exasperation. "I want to go out and play with the unicorn, fork. Before this I didn't even care about unicorns! They're so cheesy. But now I know there's one outside and I want to go!

"Chidi's asked me to accompany you while you study" Janet reminded her, smiling at her side. Eleanor never liked that kind of smile: no matter how nice they seemed, they always looked like they're hiding something. Although it was impossible for Janet to hide anything... Except for Eleanor's secret. That made Janet her friend. Sort of. Obligatory friends.

But she wasn't such a bad company.

"I don't even know how Hume is supposed to really help me" Eleanor protested.

"Chidi thinks so. He's the teacher so you can ask him" Janet said and Eleanor mocked her. "I cannot stop you from leaving."

Eleanor snorted, grumpy to already know that. She had never studied in her life, no one ever had succeeded getting her to do so. And there she was now: in the Afterlife, willingly studying with zero unicorns.

"Excuse me for not wanting to end up in the Bad Place" Eleanor replied ironically. That was his real cause. And, hey, it was a good cause in her opinion. But studying sucked. Ugh.

She looked at the book. No matter how frustrating it was, she had to face it. No matter how tempting the rainbow unicorn outside was.

With a sigh she opened it again to see if she can learn something at least. Please.

  1. **Because we want something**



Eleanor and Jason had asked for a break. Chidi had never give a break in class but those two were unstoppable. At the end he had let them go out. At least Chidi know they would come back. The first day he wasn't sure but they had been doing this for three months now and Eleanor still wanted to work hard and Jason still attended the class, which was very remarkable.

While his unexpected students went for frozen yogurt, Chidi dedicated himself to cleaning the blackboards so they could move to the next lesson. Eleanor was taking it seriously and that in turn motivated him as well. Teaching philosophy from scratch, with Eleanor asking about everything was surprisingly stimulating after so many years teaching at the university.

"Do you like Eleanor?"

"WHAT?" Janet's sudden question caused to him to drop the eraser. He almost dropped himself too. "Why would you say that?!" How could she think something like that?! He was so confused.

Janet was seated now on the couch where Eleanor had been before, attention directed at him.

"She's your soulmate" she explained. And she couldn't have touched a more delicate and uncomfortable subject for him.

"Since she isn't the Eleanor who was supposed to be in the Good Side, she can't be my soul mate" he argued. It was basic -and painful- logic.

"You seem to enjoy spending time with her" Janet continued despite his explanation. "You really get along well."

"Why are you asking this?"

"My database knows all the symptoms and actions of infatuation but I want to understand it better."

"There is no infatuation" Chidi insisted. "I like a lot of people." Everyone in fact because hating someone was too big responsibility for him. "If I teach her it's because she asked and she really needs it. It wouldn't have been ethical to me to deny het request."

Janet raised her chin, reflexive.

"It has nothing to do with you liking her?"

"Of course not! Eleanor isn't my soulmate and I don't like her, not in that way!" When he got nervous he always had a hard time explaining himself.

"Janet!" Jason greeted the cosmic intelligence -or something-. Automatically she waved in Jason's direction with a smile.

"Is something wrong?" Eleanor asked coming in too with frozen yogurt on her cheek.

Anticipating the possible disaster Chidi replied before Janet had the chance.

"Nothing at all! Let's continue the class."

Eleanor raised both eyebrows but then shrugged and jump in the sofa.

"Okay, super prof. What philosophical thing are we gonna learn about next? We come super ready, batteries recharged with frozen yogurt!"

It was possible that, even if she was so different from Chidi, he actually got on with Eleanor. How could he not? She also had a real interest in his classes. Of course he didn't teach her because he liked her in that way. He did it because he _was a teacher_ and it was right and ethical. Doing it for another reason would be selfish. Although he couldn't say that he didn't end up enjoying those moments even more than when he had taught at the university.

  1. **Because someone expect it from you**



To say goodbye, to let it go, to her parents in the Judge's trial was the hardest thing that Tahani Al-Jamil had had to do in her entire life. It released a great weight inside hers chest but her parents weren’t even aware of the goodbye. Tahani had already expected this. It was just an illusion but it felt so real that the disappointment almost made her cry.

She took a deep breath, repeating to herself that it didn't matter. She wouldn't allow her parents' behavior to condition her life never again. Their opinion had always been the north of her compass and the chains on her feet. When they discovered Michael’s despicable trick to torture them, she hadn't been able to believe that _she_ belonged to the Bad Place but now she understood that she deserved it.

She hadn't done a single thing in her life for herself. Everything had been attempts to get her parents approbation. Everything she had done was because of them or, even worse, for Kamilah –hers worst nightmare, so terrible that didn’t appear in this illusionShe wasn't ready for her yet but Tahani hoped that she'd someday be able to look her in the eye and say goodbye to their competition.

Is she thought about it she didn't even know what _she_ wanted for _herself_. What she'd have liked to do, what hobbies she'd have had, for what she'd have actually wanted to raise funds...

She stopped before leaving the room. There was a full-bodied mirror on her right whose framework was richly and beautifully carved. She always remembered the view in that mirror: she and Kamilah with their parents in the middle, always comparing them and she always failing.

Now she stopped there and gazed at her dress: the curve perfectly followed her back until it reached her waist elegantly and delicately. She appreciated the hem of the dress, which hung around her knees, showing off her legs and shoes. Her hair fell on hers shoulders and the pale pink color of the dress melted with the brown shadow of hers skin. Everything was carefully and thoughtfully chosen for the public to see.

And for once she didn't think about how they would see her, for the first time Tahani thought of how she looked for herself.

Janet witnessed this unique moment. She didn't even breathe -it was easy, she didn't need it, but she tried with all her existence to not interrupt Tahani’s moment. Janet could be everywhere, be aware of everything. It started just in the neighborhood because of hers role but then they went out of the neighborhood and the boundaries started to fade.

Tahani smiled to herself.

She was really beautiful.

  1. **Because we have rules**



There were so many things that Jason wasn’t sure about in his life. A woman -doctor or something like that, he didn't know well- had told him he had attention problem. Jason had no idea, he only knew that life was very complicated, man, and as you couldn't understand everything, you better choose well.

For example: Jason didn't know why many of his plans with Pillboi went wrong but he did know that, at the end of the day, Pillboi was his best friend –along with his dad ofc- and that's what mattered.

Now he didn't understand whether he was dead or had been, but he understood that there was an important mission for the entire universe and that's enough for him to join.

Plus these folks were good people. Weird people but good.

"The worlds tells you to do some thing" Jason explained to Janet, lying on the hood of the car. "But you choose what you do. I always help Pillboi and Donkey Doug because they are my mates and that's what the Mate's Code says to do. It's like the law but no jail. I know that if anything happens to me, they're going to help me too, whatever is. If we don't help each other as mates we cannot say we're mates. That's why Pillboi is that important to me.

And now they were too. The Soul Gang and also Janet and Michael, even if they’re demons or something.

Jason didn't know if Eleanor and the rest had understood him when he'd explained this before. They said that in another life he had died in the safe at the Mexican restaurant. He didn't know how because he was here, alive, but even if that had happened he wouldn't have regretted it. It was a messy way to die, but it was also the Mate's Code.

With Janet it was easier to explain himself. Somehow she seemed to understand him when no one else was getting it. She laughed at his jokes -even the bad ones- and looked at him as if he had something to do.

He liked her so much, though he didn't know whether to tell her or not.

"I see" she nodded. Jason knew it was true. Janet didn't lie. "I like looking at these stars" she said later.

The others were in the farm but the two of them had gone out. Jason had asked Janet if she had ever seen the stars lying on a car and when she had said no, he'd had to show her.

It was the best.

"Told you it was the best."

"It is. I know all the stars, their names and positions, but seeing them from this single point of space.... it's very special" she admitted.

She was so clear. Honest without being menacing, always kind. Somehow weird also. But he like that too. Normal people always tho ught they're better than him -that why he valued the Mate's Code with Pillboi and Donkey Doug- but Janet never acted that way.

"One day, when we all live together, we have to have a car outside to look at the stars. Or better! Climb the roof! That's even better, trust me!"

She did.

Even if she didn't know if that could happen someday, Jason believe it and with him Janet could not think about the worries of the future.

  1. **Because of the Great Common Good**



Michael had always given off passion. Passion for what he did and passion for what he said. Janet had been able to see it since he had started the neighborhood, had seen it again when he interceded with the Judge for the first, second and even third time. The same passion if not more with each new attempt. Janet knew that passion was something Shawn mocked, without understanding that passion was precisely what made Michal shine. Passion had led him to try to deceive Eleanor and the others -including Janet- to overcome the usual Bad Side projects, to mock Chidi's lessons when they forced him to attend. Later the same passion made him begin to ask questions and, step by step, Michael found himself fond enough of humans to fight for them with all his strength against his own kind. To fight now in search of a fair Point System not only for _their humans_ but for everyone else.

"What happenned?" The demon asked her when he noticed how Janet had stood staring with a smile on her face for two whole minutes.

"Nothing" she answered. Michael didn't believe her so much but he knew she was always lawful –she was a good Janet after all. But she kept talking by inertia, unplanned. "I was thinking about everything you've done to save Eleanor and company."

"Ah. It's not just for them" Michael waved his hand to dismiss the idea, defending himself because Janet knew, the truth made him feel a bit embarrassed of his nature. "Not even for us. Sure I'd love to kick Shawn's butt, but if the System is wrong the whole universe is unfair."

"You're fighting for all mortals then" Janet concluded. "Chidi would be proud of you: You're Good, Michael."

Michael would’ve been less surprised if a sinkhole had opened right below their feet out of nowhere. Turning him good was Eleanor's plan but no one had believe it, Michael less than anyone else.

"I don't think so, I just do this because of a debt and maybe some friends..." he claimed humorously. But Janet looked him in the eye, both of them nothing it was a lie, so he coughed. "Does it make me more attractive? What do you think? Should I change my bowtie?" He laughed, touching his clothes, acting ridiculous on purpose.

Janet indulged him and laughed too.

"Now help me to find something here," Michael requested, changing the subject in order to avoid thinking about whether he had actually changed that much. But also because they're running out of time: the committee was about to arrive and they'd to find _something_ to get them to listen.

That Accounting book was their only hope to save everyone.

  1. **Because _I_ want to be good**



Janet finished projecting all her evidence. Those moments and so many others: small, everyday situations of support and generosity, moments of change; resounding instants of great acts that represented a before and after in their individual lives and the way they all lived. She was aware that behind her Eleanor, Michael and everyone -expect Jason, who was enthusiastically clapping for her- were shocked, though they shouldn’t have been, they already knew she was able to do that. Janet ignored them now, approaching the Judge and the representatives of both the Good and the Bad Place -Mindy had only wanted to be let alone when she had been invited to the court- but especially the Judge who had the last word on their destinies.

"You wanted proof that humans could improve and there you have it. They all have changed, constantly improving themselves, getting better for themselves and for others. Even Michael was changed by them; that's the effect they have had on him. Just by giving him the chance" she explained.

"Moreover... they have also changed me. Even if I was killed a few time" at this point Tahani gasped out loud but Janet didn't stop. "I understand firsthand what friendship and human bonds are, the selflessness and selfishness, the complexity of choosing a tomato or fighting for yourself, for your friends and also for what's right in your own ethics. All of this I know thanks to the opportunity of being with them. Even you, Judge Gen, have changed: you'd have condemned us all long ago, when you hadn't wanted to listen to us expect that you were bored of the monotony. Now you really want to fix this situation.

"We all have grown, all of us, to be good, not because we should be, no more to avoid going to the Bad Place, not even for the good of us or the others... but because we understand it's the right thing. And this trial is the final demonstration of this.

"We all can improve during life or after life, even those who haven't been ‘alive’ ever, if given the opportunity. And through this we can change the universe itself.

“Because we all are the universe itself.”

She finished his statement with a proud smile in her lips, not for her but for everyone at hers back. That smile that in the beginning of hers days had been automatic, programmed and constant, but was now hers to choose to use when and why.

She started as a Good Janet but now she wasn’t that, but neither was she an Evil Janet and or a Neutral Janet. She was something different, unique, she was herself. Just Janet.

Tahani applauded behind her, Eleanor shouted encouragement, and Jason jumped to hug her without permission saying "you're the best _best_!"

Now she was able to do whatever she wanted, she could choose. She had the chance. And she kissed Jason because we felt so happy and free.

They all, themselves, were the ultimate proof.

The Judge couldn’t do nothing but smile and nod and the trial, finally, was over.


End file.
